Finding Balance Between People Who Run the World & Those Who Keep the World Running — Today’s dispatch comes courtesy of Howe, Indiana. It’s here, in this little patch of America, where we remember what journalism has forgotten. Most likely, if you’ve ever been to Howe, you didn’t even know it. By that I mean no offense — it’s simply the way it is. Howe has…

I Drove 4,000 Miles. Here’s What I Learned About News Today — After a 4,000-mile drive across the country and back this July, here’s what I learned about the state of news: If there is a national conversation taking place in America today, no one knows it’s happening. The national news bubble — driven by news produced out of New York —…

Old-School Tactics Don’t Work in Today’s Media Landscape — In survey after survey, the public says they want news they can trust. Seems like a reasonable request — a fairly black-and-white one, to boot — but here’s the thing: How do you measure trust? Just like that, we find ourselves knee-deep in the muck of gray area. The news…

People, me among them, spend a great deal of time discussing what’s wrong with today’s news media. And why not? It’s a tale that, on any given day, incorporates murder and mayhem, scandal, politics, and religion, assuming you’re paying attention to mainstream media only. There used to be a time…

Things That Can No Longer Be Unseen — This new year isn’t fooling around. It’s dragging into the spotlight issues that have been festering deep inside the news ecosystem for years. For a long time, it was easy to ignore or overlook the problems. What we’re left with now is the train wreck we can’t unsee. POINTED THIS WAY National news…

Let’s Get to the Real Story — Kevin McCarthy is having a bad week. That’s good news for Long Island. How’s that? It drops us from №1 in suffering public humiliation and slides us into a close second. Of course, I refer to how the news dropped the ball and enabled an imposter to get elected to…

As the investigations pile up into who George Santos really is, one thing is certain: He is most definitely the poster boy for everything wrong with today’s news media. The fact that Long Island is the scene of the crime makes it smart all the more. Our backyard, and the…

10 Years On, Authenticity Shines in Local News — There was much in the news this week, but on Dec.14, only one story mattered: The 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting. Major news outlets, inside and outside the U.S., looked back, but in different ways. ABC News: ‘Sandy Hook parents reflect on 10th anniversary of mass shooting, work…

What This Media Watcher Wants for the Holidays — In no particular order… 1A 101. It’s time America got serious about educating the public on freedom of speech, both the rights and the responsibilities contained within the First Amendment. Humble suggestion: Let’s start by enrolling the tech giants who clearly think they get it but oh-so-don’t. A Label Baby…